Swings should be installed at bus stops to help keep elderly people young at heart, a major report on how Britain’s towns cities should be redesigned to make them fit for an ageing population suggests.

Outdoor gym equipment for all ages, futuristic “urban pods” to transport people around and banks of tricycles or electric bicycles for hire on street corners could also help people get out and about more easily and combat loneliness.

Meanwhile road signs and marking should be redesigned to be clearer for older drivers and pedestrian crossings should be reset to give people longer to get across, it recommends.

The ideas are among dozens of suggestions contained in a report published jointly by the International Longevity Centre and Age UK bringing together suggestions from older people themselves and charities, consumer groups, councils and organisations such as the RAC Foundation.

It calls for the biggest house building programme for a generation to cope with the changing population as well as more basic changes such as a major increase in park benches and public lavatories.

But it also emphasises the need to make towns and cities places of “playfulness and fun”.

“Bringing play for all ages into communities could be done through desegregation of playground equipment and the further spread of all-age play equipment outside public parks – such as swings at bus stops, and outdoor gym facilities,” it suggests.

It also calls on the health regulator to make it a requirement for care homes to give people access to gardens and estate agents to be trained to identify suitable houses for older people.

Meanwhile it recommends extending cycle networks to encourage older people to see cycling as a way of getting from A to B rather than a sport for the young.

It suggests introducing on-street hire facilities similar to London’s “Boris bike” scheme but including a tricycle option to improve stability and electronic bicycles for those unable to peddle long distances.

Meanwhile it urges the Department for Transport to replace the triangular road signs advising drivers of older people crossing with more “positive imagery”

Baroness Greengross, chief executive of ILC-UK, said: "We must have a bold and aspirational vision for communities in an ageing society.

“But our aspiration for age friendly cities must be much greater than providing toilets.”

Caroline Abrahams, director of Age UK, said: “The alternative is that as we age we are increasingly stuck at home and cut off from the rest of society limiting our ability to enjoy life, to socialise and stay independent for longer.”